13 January 2021

Do you sometimes feel you are just going through the same motions? Nothing has changed. Just a different day, a different date, a different year but same same? It feels like the last few months of last year. Why?

I feel that I have not got into the rut yet. But I am very close.  The rut? A Ditch. A long deep track made by the repeated passage of the wheels of vehicles or a habit, a pattern of behaviour that has become dull and unproductive that is hard to change. Ok, going upon these descriptions I am in a rut. And it’s only the beginning of the year!!!!

So, some short term goals need to be put into place. I’ll look at the long term goals later.

So just like a football game where the ball is kicked through the goal. Short term is to kick a goal, long term is to kick lots, so you win.

I just want to first try kicking a goal.

I’m sharing them with you (And of course God), because if I don’t have accountability partners – people who make me accountable for my goals, my dreams, my actions, it just won’t happen. We all need encouragers like you. Women have a gift for that but we also need to have other women in our lives to encourage us. So, I’ve learnt reaching my goals just does not happen otherwise. Unless you are the most disciplined person in the whole wide world, and none of us is that perfect. One area we may find easy and another area we may find hard and vice versa.

So the first thing I did was get myself a diary/a calendar for 2021.

To make some plans.

Then FIRST THING.

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.

Proverbs 16:3

COMMIT.

I have written this down.

I have written the list of things below down in my journal so as to look back at the end of a few months, 6 months, the end of the year and see what God has blessed. To see what God has done in my life.

To see where God will take me, take my plans and grow and develop and enrich them for Him and for Me.

Our plans should never be made independently of the Lord. We are called into relationship with Him, so our plans need to be aligned with His plans. We give Him our plans with a heart, an attitude that HE can change/alter direction/scribble out sections of our plans if it is His will.

So we pray.

We confide in Him our plans and dreams and hopes.  We try and listen. Try and sense the Holy Spirit’s leading and bring our thoughts, our plans to Him.

The word Commit in Hebrew means to “roll towards.” So we, like a ball, roll our ideas, our plans towards the Lord in whatever we do and trust in faith and humility THE Plans that the Lord wants to succeed. We don’t just sit back and watch. We are active partners with Him.

We need to CONSULT the Lord or maybe woe to us.

Woe to the rebellious children says the Lord who take counsel and carry out a plan but NOT MINE…..

Isaiah 30:1

God wants the BEST for us. GOOD all the days of our lives!!!! So would we not then consult Him the Creator and Saviour of all on His opinion?

So now to set a few Goals.

One. I’m going to wake at a different time in the morning this year.  I don’t care if it’s five minutes earlier but just that it’s not the same as last year. Hopefully to get up early for exercise. If I don’t, I’m going to stay same same. So the alarm is set. (Dear Lord help me not to push the snooze button!)

Two. I’m going to study at my desk for at least a few hours a day. I’ve already set up the desk in a part of the house and am quite excited by this. If it was some of my daughters who love stationary, they would be getting a whole new desk set, pens, paper, notelets etc.

And yes, the coffee machine has been cleaned and is ready to work.

Three. I’m going to set aside some good quiet time for prayer. Times where I am my freshest, my best. I’ve got the most comfortable chair ready and waiting. I’ve even bought a new journal to write down my thoughts, God’s thoughts.

Four. I’m going to eat healthy. I’ve already got out the cookbooks I bought years ago for this same reason. Only used them a few times. So, I hope I persevere. (Dear Lord help me to stay motivated. Give me the energy to persevere, especially on my weak days.)

Five. To try something new in giving away – my time, my efforts, my talents, my love, my stuff, my finances…..so as to learn to not be attached to stuff, attached to things of this world and build up treasures in heaven.

To see in my fellow human beings Jesus.  In ALL of them. To see their needs and to help in any way that I can.

Six. I’m going to be motivated by some rewards at the end of the completion of my short term goals.

Maybe a sleep in, a chocolate bar, a shopping expedition, a treat?????

Are you stuck in a rut? Or going same same?

Only you can determine to get out of it – with God’s help – even if in just a small way, a small change of mindset, of attitude.

And so I turn to scripture – to God’s Word to get inspiration and strength.

You need not call to mind the past, nor consider the things of antiquity. Behold I am accomplishing new things. And presently they will spring forth.

Isaiah 43:18 GNT

Create in me a clean heart O God and put a new and right spirit within me.

Psalm 51:10 NRSV

Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new creation, the old is gone, the new has come.

2 Corinthians 5:17 GNT

So then, let us rid ourselves of everything that gets in the way, and of the sin which holds on to us so tightly and let us run with determination the race that lies before us.

Hebrews 12:1-2 GNT

Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end.

And that’s how I’m going to try and be – running hard on my new path with my eyes fixed on Jesus and let us see what He does in me, through me and with me.

So please make me accountable. Check up on me. Encourage me.

Are you going to join me?

May these jottings from my journal inspire you to believe in and fall in love with Christ- the hope of the world, as stated in Jeremiah 17:7, ‘Blessed is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the Lord and whose hope and confident expectation is the Lord!’

Love

Rosemary

Every week groups of ladies meet together to chat about the things I raise in my weekly blog post and to chat about life in general. We call these ‘Heart Connect’ groups. If you would like more information please click HERE.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Are you stuck in a rut?

What are some short term goals that you can make?

Who can you encourage with their goals?